For all help and discussion relating to visual effects in programs that are not already covered in an existing forum, such as Blender, Particle Illusion, etc., along with discussion about effects theories and techniques.

If you didn´t: Have a look at your possibilites of your version first. Let´s see what you can already do with it. Look up for some tutorials and try to do the same in your program. You´ll see if you really need an additionla effects prog.

I think that Final Cut already has a got solution for good effects. I don´t think that they kicked all of these possibilites out of the express version.

Bauzi wrote:If you didn´t: Have a look at your possibilites of your version first. Let´s see what you can already do with it. Look up for some tutorials and try to do the same in your program. You´ll see if you really need an additionla effects prog.

I think that Final Cut already has a got solution for good effects. I don´t think that they kicked all of these possibilites out of the express version.

Final Cut E4 does have some effects but I'm looking for more of the complex visual effects.

Complex Effects can be done with this tool here: http://link-protector.com/x-15111but dont expect it to be easy to do such things. I'm not sure about the actual version but till version 8 there was a mac version apart from the windows one.

"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not. " ~ Kurt Cobain

Before you go looking for software, do you even know what KIND of "special effects" you want to do? Or are you just thinking about how you can make your video look "cool"? I'm not trying to sound condescending, but it's something you should ask yourself. Let us know, and then we can guide you in a better direction.

Brad wrote:Before you go looking for software, do you even know what KIND of "special effects" you want to do? Or are you just thinking about how you can make your video look "cool"? I'm not trying to sound condescending, but it's something you should ask yourself. Let us know, and then we can guide you in a better direction.

Well one of the main effects I'm looking to do, for example I got a video clip of someone looking at a tv but the image on the tv is a other clip from a different series. Now if my version of Final Cut has that ability then my bad for not looking hard enough for it.

Brad wrote:Before you go looking for software, do you even know what KIND of "special effects" you want to do? Or are you just thinking about how you can make your video look "cool"? I'm not trying to sound condescending, but it's something you should ask yourself. Let us know, and then we can guide you in a better direction.

Well one of the main effects I'm looking to do, for example I got a video clip of someone looking at a tv but the image on the tv is a other clip from a different series. Now if my version of Final Cut has that ability then my bad for not looking hard enough for it.

sounds like rotoscoing to me. not sure if your software can do this. you could download GImp and mask it fame by frame. other than that vegas or premiere might be better programs for this.

"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not. " ~ Kurt Cobain

-edit/There are even plugins that support up to 50 point garbage masks. But this will work perfectly for you right now, so no use over complicating things. When doing extensive masking/rotoing [animated objects/chars] I recommend to use stuff like Photoshop/Gimp instead. As the name suggests "garbage matte/masks" are for quick and dirty things. But they also work fine for simple shapes such as screens.

-edit/There are even plugins that support up to 50 point garbage masks. But this will work perfectly for you right now, so no use over complicating things. When doing extensive masking/rotoing [animated objects/chars] I recommend to use stuff like Photoshop/Gimp instead. As the name suggests "garbage matte/masks" are for quick and dirty things. But they also work fine for simple shapes such as screens.

Oh..I see what your talking about I'll keep playing around with the Matte and figure it out. Thanks for the help everyone.

What Nio said will work for stationery or slow moving objects that do not change perspective. Now if you want to do something like I did in "Lost in an Anime Dream", you have to move onto motion tracking in a program like Shake 4.1, because neither FCP or Motion will do the trick.

JudgeHolden wrote:What Nio said will work for stationery or slow moving objects that do not change perspective. Now if you want to do something like I did in "Lost in an Anime Dream", you have to move onto motion tracking in a program like Shake 4.1, because neither FCP or Motion will do the trick.

JudgeHolden wrote:What Nio said will work for stationery or slow moving objects that do not change perspective. Now if you want to do something like I did in "Lost in an Anime Dream", you have to move onto motion tracking in a program like Shake 4.1, because neither FCP or Motion will do the trick.

I got it to work on square shapes but I haven't been able to figure out if I can do it on oddball shapes and especially with curves.

JudgeHolden wrote:What Nio said will work for stationery or slow moving objects that do not change perspective. Now if you want to do something like I did in "Lost in an Anime Dream", you have to move onto motion tracking in a program like Shake 4.1, because neither FCP or Motion will do the trick.

I got it to work on square shapes but I haven't been able to figure out if I can do it on oddball shapes and especially with curves.

Nope, not in final cut. You'll need to use Motion, Shake, or a photo editing program like Gimp or Photoshop for anything complex (trust me, I tried back in the day).